Transuniverse handles the daily import and export of its customers’ goods. In many cases, this involves customs formalities. Our AEO-certified customs service ensures smooth and, above all, correct handling. The team is managed by Michel De Lattre.

Originally, Michel made a career for himself in the customs department of a major air freight forwarder. In 2014, he was recruited by Transuniverse to shape a new department: Customs. “Before, customs formalities were taken care of by the planning department. Entrusting them to a specialised unit allowed the planners to better focus on their core tasks. More expertise could also be brought together. Indeed, customs activities involve more and more specific knowledge, if only because legislation is constantly evolving,” he explains.

His team consists of six specialists of different nationalities in Wondelgem and four employees in Romania, who are in charge of preparing the formalities.

Specific knowledge

“The legislation is changing rapidly, not only in terms of taxation but also, for example, in terms of supervision of the requirements to be met by imported and exported products. For example, you must strictly follow EU directives regarding the so-called CE rules that products must comply with. After all, they are very important for health and safety,” says Michel.

Export

That specific knowledge is especially important on the export side. “The rules are different in – say – Morocco, Turkey, the UK and Switzerland. VAT regimes and financial aspects are also different each time. In principle, the exporter and the local importer must ensure that local laws and regulations are respected. But in some cases, they call on our team to check whether everything is correct from a customs point of view. And sometimes we provide them with support in finding out the correct import duties in a country. In Switzerland, for example, these can be avoided in some cases because the EU has a free trade agreement with that country,” he adds.

Import

On the import side, Brexit and the associated customs formalities have presented quite a challenge for his team. “Not only has it meant a lot of extra work but there’s also more time pressure. If you import goods from Turkey, you have a fairly long transit time usually of seven days. So you have eight days to prepare everything. Imports from the UK are different: the distance, and hence the transit time, is very short. So you have much less time to get everything ready on time,” Michel explains.

Digitalisation

This is one of the reasons why digitalisation is of great importance. “Customs documents are stored digitally by us and forwarded to local agents and/or consignees. But more importantly, this digitalisation allows planning to do its job better: we work closely together to check whether all the formalities have been completed and therefore whether or not a shipment is allowed to leave or be delivered. So we check whether the documents have been fully completed and if any information is missing we will notify the customer. Thanks to our high-performance IT system, customers not only enjoy faster handling but also avoid errors that could interrupt the logistics flow,” Michel adds.

Finally, he points to the good communication with the customs administration: “It facilitates the handling of files and any checks, meaning that less time is wasted and a smoother flow can be guaranteed.”

The British government announced on 14 November that it will recognise the CE marking of products until 31 December 2024. Companies will therefore have an extra two years to apply the new UKCA safety marking. Postponement does not mean cancellation: those exporting to the UK best bear it in mind anyway.

It was originally planned that CE marking would no longer be accepted in Britain (excluding Northern Ireland) for products marketed there from 1 January 2023. That deadline now moves to 1 January 2025.

According to Business Secretary Grant Shapps, this postponement is designed to give companies a chance to focus on growth, not regulations. Given the difficult economic conditions, the UK government does not want to burden business with the requirement to meet the original deadline.

What is the UKCA marking?

The UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking was introduced in January 2021 as part of the UK’s own regulatory framework. This certificate shows that products comply with their own product safety regulations and is designed to protect consumers. The British label applies to a whole range of products marketed in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland but not Northern Ireland).

CE marking can therefore still be used until 31 December 2024 (possibly alongside a UKCA marking) for products exported to the UK. After this date, only the UKCA marking will apply and only products with the UK marking may be sold in the UK.

Is the UKCA marking needed in Northern Ireland?

No. Special rules apply in Northern Ireland: EU conformity markings are still used there. For most goods, this is the CE marking. However, products brought to the British market from Northern Ireland must also bear a UKNI mark.

Which products are covered by the UKCA marking?

Most products covered by CE marking rules must comply with UKCA rules. A full list of these products can be found here.

Some products covered by the UKCA marking are subject to additional special rules. These include medical devices, construction products and hazardous substances.

More information on the UKCA marking, Northern Ireland rules and the products concerned can be found on the UK government website.

Transuniverse Forwarding has acquired the forwarding company Welpa Trans based in Wommelgem (Antwerp). “This transaction strengthens our presence in the Eastern European traffic and brings in expertise in chartering”, says Olivia Adins, member of the Transuniverse management board.

Welpa Trans was founded in 1984 as freight forwarding company specialising in road transport and chartering. “We serve the whole of Europe, but our activities are mainly focused on Eastern Europe. We transport full loads as well as part loads and groupage shipments,” explains Linda Slootmans. She is a shareholder and director of the company together with Johnny Granacher.

“I am approaching retirement age and have no family succession. That’s why we looked for a partner with complementary activities that would give our company the best chances to continue to grow,” she adds.

says Olivia Adins: “A month ago, Transuniverse Forwarding already acquired Evergem-based APMEX. That transaction was intended to reinforce our position in the Western European groupage market, as well as in local distribution. With the acquisition of Welpa Trans, we aim to further strengthen ourselves with complementary activities”.

Eastern Europe and chartering

“First of all, Welpa Trans’ strength lies in the Eastern European traffic and more in specifically services to and from Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. These are important countries for us, where we want to increase our presence. With thicker flows, we can increase the frequency to these destinations,” she adds. “Secondly, Welpa Trans is specialised in chartering, i.e. buying and selling road transport capacity. Throughout Europe, we experience that this transport capacity is under pressure and is even decreasing in some countries. We can use this expertise to ensure that we can provide sufficient capacity and thus better serve our customers.”

“This expertise will also enable us to offer more services outside our core business – groupage – such as full loads, express transport or loads with special requirements. This will allow us to act more as a one-stop shop for our customers,” adds Miri Nedelcu, Purchase Manager at Transuniverse.

Independent entity

Welpa Trans employs four specialised staff. They will continue to work in the offices at the Rollebeekstraat in Wommelgem. Welpa Trans will operate as an independent entity within Transuniverse, in close cooperation with the colleagues in Wondelgem.

Welpa Trans has an annual turnover of 5.5 million euros. This brings the combined annual turnover of Transuniverse to approximately 80 million euros.

Increased scale

The acquisition of Welpa Trans, like that of APMEX, is part of Transuniverse’s strategy to achieve greater economies of scale. Increasing the scale is necessary to better absorb the sharp rise in costs and to improve capacity. “We expect the economy to cool down. This acquisition will allow us to maintain the frequency of departures and even increase them to Eastern Europe. It will also be possible to offer more return freight from this region. The other way round, Welpa Trans will be in a better position to develop groupage services,” concludes Olivia Adins.

Frank Adins, chairman of Transuniverse Forwarding, was recently a guest on Transportmedia’s Live Studio. Together with Jan Boonen, Sales Manager of Be-Trans (JOST), he was interviewed by chief editor Claude Yvens about the evolution of the road transport market and, more specifically, transport prices.

Today, demand for transport is still particularly high. But how it will evolve in the coming months is anyone’s guess. What is certain is that the cost price has risen sharply and will continue to rise. Not only is the diesel price at a record level, but also fixed costs – including wages – shot up. The increase in cost price varies from destination to destination, but on average it is 17%. And it will rise again in January due to another increase in wages, among other things.

“So it comes down to looking closely at the dashboard,” says Frank Adins. Like Jan Boonen, he argues that these costs will absolutely have to be passed on. Both are convinced of this: “There’s no choice: whoever doesn’t do that is going to die”.

Watch this fascinating and enlightening interview here.

Transuniverse Forwarding recently took over the groupage company Apmex International Forwarding from Evergem (Ghent). It specialises in trading across Western Europe, focusing on UK, France, Germany and Benelux distribution. This will strengthen our position in the groupage market and reinforce our team with experienced specialists.

Apmex was founded in 2003 by Alain Merckx. Today, his company has six employees and achieves an annual turnover of about 2.5 million euros. It enjoys an excellent reputation in the groupage sector and is known for its professional services and sound market knowledge. “We have always opted for quality and not quantity. We can therefore count on very loyal customers, dedicated employees and loyal transport partners,” he says.

“I will be retiring n May 2023 and I have no family heirs. We therefore looked for a buyer who would ensure continuity and maintain quality. We found it in Transuniverse Forwarding. An additional advantage for our staff is that our head office in Evergem is located a few kilometres from Transuniverse’s in Wondelgem,” he explains. All employees are making the switch.

A clear win-win

For Frank Adins, chairman of Transuniverse Forwarding, this takeover is a clear win-win for both companies. “Apmex actually does the same thing as Transuniverse, albeit on a smaller scale. This integration thus strengthens our groupage position in a number of key countries. Thanks to Apmex’ good relations with its transport partners, we also secure additional capacity, which is not evident in the current market conditions. And we welcome new colleagues with proven know-how. We are also able to offer Apmex customers a wider range of destinations. And new career opportunities are created for Apmex staff”.

Continuity guaranteed

Alain Merckx remains on board until the end of April 2023. “In doing so, I can ensure continuity and support integration. Operationally, little will change: both companies will gradually merge,” he says.

Transuniverse Forwarding strengthens position with acquisition of Apmex

Transuniverse Forwarding recently took over the groupage company Apmex International Forwarding from Evergem (Ghent). It specialises in trading across Western Europe, focusing on UK, France, Germany and Benelux distribution. This will strengthen our position in the groupage market and reinforce our team with experienced specialists.

Apmex was founded in 2003 by Alain Merckx. Today, his company has six employees and achieves an annual turnover of about 2.5 million euros. It enjoys an excellent reputation in the groupage sector and is known for its professional services and sound market knowledge. “We have always opted for quality and not quantity. We can therefore count on very loyal customers, dedicated employees and loyal transport partners,” he says.

“I will be retiring n May 2023 and I have no family heirs. We therefore looked for a buyer who would ensure continuity and maintain quality. We found it in Transuniverse Forwarding. An additional advantage for our staff is that our head office in Evergem is located a few kilometres from Transuniverse’s in Wondelgem,” he explains. All employees are making the switch.

A clear win-win

For Frank Adins, chairman of Transuniverse Forwarding, this takeover is a clear win-win for both companies. “Apmex actually does the same thing as Transuniverse, albeit on a smaller scale. This integration thus strengthens our groupage position in a number of key countries. Thanks to Apmex’ good relations with its transport partners, we also secure additional capacity, which is not evident in the current market conditions. And we welcome new colleagues with proven know-how. We are also able to offer Apmex customers a wider range of destinations. And new career opportunities are created for Apmex staff”.

Continuity guaranteed

Alain Merckx remains on board until the end of April 2023. “In doing so, I can ensure continuity and support integration. Operationally, little will change: both companies will gradually merge,” he says.

Transuniverse Forwarding strengthens position with acquisition of Apmex

Transuniverse Forwarding recently took over the groupage company Apmex International Forwarding from Evergem (Ghent). It specialises in trading across Western Europe, focusing on UK, France, Germany and Benelux distribution. This will strengthen our position in the groupage market and reinforce our team with experienced specialists.

Apmex was founded in 2003 by Alain Merckx. Today, his company has six employees and achieves an annual turnover of about 2.5 million euros. It enjoys an excellent reputation in the groupage sector and is known for its professional services and sound market knowledge. “We have always opted for quality and not quantity. We can therefore count on very loyal customers, dedicated employees and loyal transport partners,” he says.

“I will be retiring n May 2023 and I have no family heirs. We therefore looked for a buyer who would ensure continuity and maintain quality. We found it in Transuniverse Forwarding. An additional advantage for our staff is that our head office in Evergem is located a few kilometres from Transuniverse’s in Wondelgem,” he explains. All employees are making the switch.

A clear win-win

For Frank Adins, chairman of Transuniverse Forwarding, this takeover is a clear win-win for both companies. “Apmex actually does the same thing as Transuniverse, albeit on a smaller scale. This integration thus strengthens our groupage position in a number of key countries. Thanks to Apmex’ good relations with its transport partners, we also secure additional capacity, which is not evident in the current market conditions. And we welcome new colleagues with proven know-how. We are also able to offer Apmex customers a wider range of destinations. And new career opportunities are created for Apmex staff”.

Continuity guaranteed

Alain Merckx remains on board until the end of April 2023. “In doing so, I can ensure continuity and support integration. Operationally, little will change: both companies will gradually merge,” he says.

Cross-dock warehousing plays a key role in groupage transport. It is there that the goods are unloaded and leave almost immediately for their final destination. The quicker and more efficient their transit is, the better. But in speed lurks a risk of errors. Warehouse Manager Christophe Malfait makes sure that this core activity of Transuniverse Forwarding runs more efficiently and that the error rate remains minimal.

Christophe has been working for Transuniverse for over eighteen months now. “Before that I worked at Volvo Logistics in Oostakker. I started there as a warehouse employee and worked my way up to Operations Team Leader where I was responsible for the outbound traffic of Volvo truck parts for the international market. But after 24 years, I was ready for a new challenge. After about two years as Warehouse Supervisor at Sano Rice in Ghent, I joined Transuniverse as the cross-docking manager, which was more in line with the know-how I had acquired at Volvo,” he says. The cross-dock warehouse works 24/24 and 5/7 with 35 people over different shifts.

After a few months, he also became responsible for Handling, a team of six employees. “This department makes sure that the administration – such as CMR and customs documents – is dealt with correctly and acts as intermediary between Operations and the warehouse. The latter is important for any problems to be dealt with efficiently,” he says.

Handling and Logistics

The Logistics Department also comes under Christophe. “We also take care of the storage for two customers at our site in Wondelgem. One is a supplier of click laminates and the other specialises in battery chargers for bicycles and cars. A team of ten employees manages the stocks, does the order picking on demand and assembles the boxes and pallets that are pushed into the groupage network,” he explains. These three departments are therefore highly complementary. The better the interaction between them, the better the quality of service.

Exports play a dominant role in Transuniverse’s groupage charts. “This activity has been growing steadily and bottlenecks sometimes occurred at peak times. We are tackling these by improving communication with Operations and by increasing automation. The latter is not as obvious as one might think: cross-docking is a complex activity with many parameters,” says Christophe.

More quality thanks to automation

The first phase of this automation process has now been completed, i.e. the introduction of scanning for all goods. “Previously, we’d be working with loading and unloading lists that the operators ticked manually. Scanning is much more accurate and reliable but requires a little more from the handling process. Because people had to work differently, an adjustment period was needed. With my experience at Volvo, I was aware of the many advantages of scanning and was able to to convince them more easily, which speeded up implementation. The result: visibility is much better, flow is smoother and quality has already improved by no less than 40%,” Christophe notes.

So that first phase is over. “In the autumn we shall be launching the second phase of automation. The customer will not only be able to track their goods as they are being transported, but also internally in the warehouse. They’ll be able to find out more quickly whether their boxes or pallets have been received, whether they are ready to be dispatched or have already left, and so on,” he adds.

The aim is to continue reducing the error rate, make traceability even more accurate and improve the quality of the exchange of information with internal and external customers. “We expect this second phase to be completed within the year,” Christophe concludes.

Please make a note of 13, 14 and 15 September in your diary to visit Transport & Logistics Ghent at Flanders Expo. The famous transport and logistics fair, which is organised every two years in Antwerp, will now also continue in Ghent. Transuniverse Forwarding will of course be attending this home match! We look forward to welcoming you to our stand.

Ghent has grown into an important logistics hotspot with a number of major players. Both the logistics community and exhibitors as well as the visitors have shown great interest in a logistics fair in Ghent,” says Nadine Francus, group events director at organiser Easyfairs. So from this year onwards, the fair will be organised alternately in Ghent and Antwerp. More than 250 exhibitors are taking part in this first event in Ghent.

Register now here to get a free visit to the fair. We look forward to welcoming you at our stand, number 1226. Those who register via our link and scan their badge at our stand will have a chance to win a fantastic prize.

All of our commercial team will be there of course. If you want to meet someone specific from the Transuniverse team, you certainly can! Please contact him or her in advance or send an e-mail to info@transuniverse.be.

Want to know more about the fair? Click here!